


Cuffed

by AfterGlow13



Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Original Character(s), Set Following Season One Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:48:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28772598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AfterGlow13/pseuds/AfterGlow13
Summary: Instead of being sent to Hyperion-8, the crew of The Raza are sent to a different maximum security galactic detention facility: a prison ship. One and Three find themselves handcuffed together and need to work together if they're going to get themselves out of this mess.“We suck at this.”“This?” One asked, confused.“Getting along. Working together.”“Oh. Yeah.”“It’s like we’re dancing with two left feet. Except instead of dancing, we’re crawling down hallways handcuffed together with no gravity and no good plan.”
Relationships: One | Derrick Moss & Three | Marcus Boone
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to decide wat to work on next and found this. IIRC, I started this after the season one finale and was about halfway through when season two aired. I've finished and edited it, and will be posting a chapter a week because I think we could all use something to look forward to.  
> I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

One woke up terrified, his heart pumping and chest heaving. He sat up too quickly, his head swimming, but he ignored it, steadying himself against the wall with a hand. He looked around and didn’t recognize his surroundings, didn’t remember how he got there. Didn’t remember—

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, look around. He was sitting on a bunk that was built into the wall. He lowered his feet on the floor. He still had his boots on, and he recognized the rest of the clothing as his own. Recognizing something, even his own boots, relieved him immensely. He remembered who he was; he hadn’t lost his memory again. Heart still pounding, he quickly took in the rest of the room: the walls were smooth metal, and the only thing in it was the bunk he was sitting on. There was a door, and above it a camera. He got up and tried the door: locked. He sat back down. He could dimly hear the sound of travelling in FTL. He was on a ship of some kind, in a room that looks a lot like a prison cell. The Galactic Authority. Of course.

He now remembered what happened, through the fog the drugs had left in his mind. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

It was all Three’s fault. That bastard had betrayed them all, sold them out, and now who knows what would happen to them. They were all criminals; except, no, that wasn’t quite true. Five was just a kid; even if she had done something (which she hadn’t), there was no way she could be held responsible. This would probably be good for her: get her life on the right course, out of crime instead of further into it.

One… well, Derrick was a law-abiding citizen. He’d be fine. Four and Six were wanted men; he wasn’t sure what would happen to them, but it wouldn’t be good. What really worried him was Two; her mere existence was technically illegal, and she hadn’t exactly held the law with anything like respect. It was just something to be manipulated for her own good, the good of her crew….

That bastard….

The look on her face when she talked about what she was stuck in his mind. One wanted to punch something, preferably Three’s smug face. They might kill her, and he could do nothing. He could believe that Three would do this to the rest of them, but Two… he liked Two. As much as One hated to admit it, they had something. He couldn’t believe Three would put her in danger like this… and yet….

No. He really could not believe it. It made no sense. Three wouldn’t do this to Two. Besides, why the Galactic Authority? What would he get from them? Three would be arrested like the rest of them; there was no way they’d cut him a deal where he got to walk away completely free. And on _The Raza_ … it had been the four of them, when the gas canister had hit the floor. Two, Five, Three, and himself. He hadn’t had long before he’d fallen unconscious, but he’d seen the looks of fear on their faces, all of their faces, when the canister fell in their midst and released its gas. There was no way any of them had done this.

Someone else must have been on the ship. But they’d searched it completely, there was no way they could have missed someone. So it must have been one of them.

One felt hate swell up instantly for Three. He clenched his hands in his hair, wishing he could wrap them around Three’s throat and squeeze.

He clenched harder, breathing hard, and forced the feeling down. It was irrational. Thinking back to _The Raza_ he realized how stupidly he’d been acting. If he and Three could’ve just got along, then maybe… but why did Three distrust him so much, anyway? He’d never done anything to him. Maybe it was him— No. He needed to stop forming impressions of people based on emotions he couldn’t remember the cause of. He could grudgingly admit that Three hadn’t given One a reason to distrust him. That didn’t mean he had to like— 

“Stand in the middle of the room and put your hands on your head,” a female voice distorted slightly by static commanded from a speaker by the door. One nodded, fairly certain they could see him, then looked down at his hands. They were shaking from how hard he had been gripping his hair. He took a deep breath, then shook out his hands, trying to get his body back under control. He stood slowly, noticing how his legs still felt a little weak. He moved to the centre of the room and put his hands on his head. A moment later the door opened.

Three men and a woman in Galactic Authority uniforms entered the room, another woman visible through the doorway. One man and the woman stopped on either side of the door and casually trained a gun on him. The other two moved behind him. They moved both of his arms down and behind him, cuffing them at the small of his back. A cuff was then fastened around each ankle, a chain running between the two, and another chain connecting that chain to the handcuffs.

“Alright,” said one of the men behind him. Another woman entered the door. Her uniform was different; it still had the Galactic Authority logo, but it looked less like it was designed for military personnel, and more like nurses’ scrubs. She only glanced at him before looking at something on a tablet in her hands. “Name,” she requested. He hesitated long enough for her to look up.

“Jace Corso,” he said quietly. His mouth was dry, and it came out funny. No one questioned it. He looked like Jace Corso, and there was supposed to be a Jace Corso aboard _The Raza_ , so he was Jace Corso. He was guessing he would have woken up in very different circumstances if they’d done a DNA scan already. Probably. There’d be time for the name he was actually born with later.

“We did a cursory medical exam when you were admitted to medical and found no issues, but it is standard procedure to ask how prisoners feel upon discharge.” She paused briefly. “How do you feel?”

“Fine.” His voice broke at the end.

She made a note on the tablet, and then said, “He’s all yours.”

After she left, the guards behind him said, “One foot in front of the other, Corso.” When he finally shuffled his way out of the door he found a plain hallway that matched the room he’d been in. He glanced left and saw the nurse nearly at the end of the hallway.

The two guards who had handcuffed him remained behind him, and the one on his right kept a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to the right. He glanced away from the nurse disappearing behind a set of doors at the other end of the hall marked INFIRMARY, and took note of the three guards leading the way, and farther ahead, at the end of the hall, a similar group of guards transporting another prisoner.

He wore a leather vest over an olive-coloured t-shirt, and had a head of dirty-blond hair One would know anywhere.

“Three?” he called and instantly regretted it. Not so much because of the sharp bark of, “No talking!” from the guard on his left, or the needy-desperate quality in his voice, or even the fact that he’d all but begged Three of all people to acknowledge him, but because he’d used Three instead of Marcus. It was stupid to let anyone know that the crew of _The Raza_ was anything other than what they appeared. It was best to play his cards close to his chest until he could talk to the others and they could get their story straight, or, more likely, he couldn’t anymore.

Way to go, One, not even conscious for ten minutes and you’ve shown your hand.

Three craned his head around at the sound of his voice. He was immediately jerked back around by the guards on either side of him, and One could hear one of them saying, “What did we tell you? Just shut-up and walk!” He felt a grim satisfaction at Three’s attention. It was nice to know he wasn’t alone, that there was at least one person on this ship who, might, grudgingly, have his back. If Three was in the same situation he couldn’t be blamed for this mess; though, One was sure he’d still find some way to blame Three.

But where was everyone else?

One let his gaze burn into the back of Three’s head until his group disappeared behind a set of security doors at the end of the hall. Within a minute One’s own group stood in front of the same doors. The woman leading the group said, “Prisoner transfer CX056301 at door M-10,” into a radio on her belt.

There was a moment of silence in which the woman exchanged a glance with another of the guards, a frown on her face. The expression remained when the radio finally crackled to life in static and interference. A barely distinguishable voice said, “Clear to proceed.” The door buzzed then clicked open. The woman pulled the door open, and then One was pushed forward into a small space which ended with another door. Once the door closed behind him, the one in front of him opened and One was herded into a hallway that stretched out on either side of him. “Left, Corso,” was barked at him. He turned as instructed and felt a worry ease he hadn’t even realized he’d had when he saw Three farther ahead. They were going to the same place. Maybe the others would be there, and they could figure out what the hell was going on.

Walking helped One clear his head, and he slowly felt his muscles relax as they shuffled down the hall. It was twice the width of the first hallway, and seemed to run the length of the ship. They passed by two security doors on the left, and one on the right before Three’s group turned left. One saw one of the guard’s talking into his radio to order the door opened, but couldn’t hear the words over the sound of FTL. Three glanced his way, just a momentary shift of his head to the left. He’s checking on me, One realized. One swallowed and looked away, not sure how that made him feel. Good, he supposed, since he wanted, needed, to know that Three was there, ahead of him, going to the same place. He glanced back and expected him to be gone, but he was still there. The guards with him were frowning, and one was looking over at One’s approaching group with uncertainty.

It took thirty seconds to draw within twenty paces of Three’s group and the door. The woman leading One’s group said, “Wait here.” She took the twenty paces quickly, back straight, boots thudding quietly with each sure step. “Mansoor, report.”

“It took a while to get through, with the static. Apparently, the T can’t hear when they get radio messages. Eventually I got through, but now the signal isn’t sending correctly to the door. They’re trying to bypass whatever is going on, but….”

The woman, who clearly had seniority, said, “They never should have switched over to the new system.”

“You say that about every little thing that goes wrong,” said one of the guards in Three’s group.

“Shut it, Jay,” the woman snapped.

Three laughed, a little quietly. Jay turned to him, his hand held threateningly over the baton strapped to his belt. Three subsided, but when he looked over at One his face said, can you believe these amateurs?

One rolled his eyes. Not that he was sure Three could see from this distance, but it was the principle of the thing.

The door buzzed then popped open. Mansoor grabbed it and pulled it fully open. Three was shepherded through as the woman started walking back to One’s group. “Hold it, Mansoor,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m not taking chances that this door won’t open for another five minutes. We get these two to booking, then no more prisoner transits today. Not until this is fixed.”

“I agree. Do you think the warden will?”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass, and you know it.”

She gestured at the guards still standing by One. “Come on, you can move quicker than that.” The guard on his left jerked his shoulder, causing him to stumble, but One held himself tall when he straightened and glared at the guard. He wouldn’t be intimidated.

It was a tight fit between the two security doors, the space clearly wasn’t meant to hold that many people. One felt his shoulders rise as people pressed close all around him. He fought them down, concentrating on presenting body language that told others not to mess with him. This was a prison ship; the people on it were dangerous; he was dangerous.

He just didn’t feel like it.

“Close that door,” the woman snapped.

“I’m trying,” said the other woman in One’s escort. One craned his head around, and saw her standing at the controls, pushing the button clearly marked as LOCK. “Something’s wrong.”

“What the hell,” the leader muttered pushing her way to the lock. She brushed past One, and— 

There was a loud noise, and suddenly it became very quiet.

One glanced around wildly, and saw the guards doing the same, confusion and panic on their faces. The ship had dropped out of FTL. One felt his heart rate pickup again. He considered that maybe he shouldn’t be afraid of the people on board the ship, but the ship itself.

His hands started shaking again.

The leader pushed the other woman out of the way and pushed the lock button herself. Nothing happened. She cursed and slapped at her radio. “This is Principal Officer Williams. What is going on?”

Nothing but static. She surveyed the people in front of her, a severe frown on her face. “I want these two handcuffed together. Now.”

A guard grabbed One and Three from each side. Three sighed as a chain was connected from the handcuffs at One’s back to the pair on Three. “Williams?” one of them asked quietly once they had finished. She turned from her contemplation of the malfunctioning door to the others. She nodded.

“Release their feet. I have a feeling we’ll need to move fast.” Her instructions were quickly followed.

The ship hadn’t stopped entirely when it dropped out of FTL. As his ears grew used to the new silence, they were better able to pick up the slight sound of sub-light engines, and feel the vibrations caused by movements under his boots. He focused on the sensation, trying to ground himself. God, he felt awful.

He bowed his head, trying to focus on breathing, and let his eyes slide mostly closed as the people around him shuffled and mumbled worriedly. Were they all going to die together trapped in this small room…?

He jumped when a hand gently grasped his elbow. What was that? He looked down at the hand, then up at the blond man attached to it. Three was looking around the room, observing everything with that watchful concerned expression he got sometimes. He wasn’t paying any attention to One, other than the steady grip on his arm. One’s shoulders eased and he started watching the guards and waiting for an opening.

The leader, Williams, had pulled off the panel covering the controls and was staring at the wires behind. “Everyone, shut up!” The guards all subsided. “Thank you. Damnit, I can’t think, and I’ve got a headache coming on. Mansoor, get over here.” She didn’t stop talking as he made his way over to her from the other side of the small space. Not that it much mattered, One reflected, considering the size of the space and how quiet everyone was now. “I want you to hold this wire once I…”

One frowned in confusion, not understanding why she stopped. Then, his heart started pumping double speed as he felt a sensation like his stomach floating up somewhere it didn’t belong, like gravity was changing, or— 

fuck

— failing.

Without any further warning the grav and inertial dampening systems failed completely. One was thrown back against the wall by the force of the sub-light engines. His body crashed into something too soft to be the wall— someone else’s body. Something hit painfully against his side— another person’s body— pain as the air was forced from his lungs. His hands were yanked strangely to the left as gravity with no artificial aids threw Three against the wall. Someone screamed, and there was a spark of electricity before the power failed completely. One’s body sagged, as the ship was brought to a slower speed, and then a stand still. He drew in a breath. Then another. His body wasn’t moving right. Shock, he hoped. He really hoped he wasn’t bleeding out. From the low groans around him, everyone was in a similarly bad way.

“Three?” he asked. He didn’t get a response. He twisted around, squinting in the low light of emergency lighting. He caught sight of a blond head, and he felt relief until he caught sight of the man’s neck. It was broken.

No. No, please, no.

He reached out to Three but his hands were stuck behind him. He pulled harder before remembering the handcuffs. The handcuffs, which attached him to Three, who must be behind him…. A wash of devastating relief crashed over him. He let out a shaky breath, before noting the dark GA uniform on the man in front of him. He was one of the men from Three’s guard.

He gingerly twisted around to the other side. Three was there. His hair was dark with blood. He must have hit his head against the wall. That wasn’t good. One couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

One twisted around some more, managing to pull himself into a position parallel with the walls, or maybe those were the floor and ceiling. Most everyone seemed to be unconscious. Besides the guard One had mistaken for Three, only the leader, Williams, was clearly dead. She must have been holding the wires in the control box when the grav and dampeners had failed, and gripped them tighter by instinct. The wires had all been pulled out. The smell was awful, something like a broken lightbulb and burnt bacon.

One pushed himself closer to Three. He couldn’t use his hands to check Three’s pulse, so he put his head on his chest to try and hear his heartbeat. Immediately he felt the even rise and fall of Three’s breath, and then he heard his heart beating evenly. One breathed out a sigh of relief, and then let himself stay there for a moment, getting his panic under control.

Three groaned quietly but didn’t wake up. One hoped that was a good sign.

Eventually he felt a little less like falling apart. He moved slowly, looking around. He saw the eyes of the other woman that had been guarding him follow his movements, but her eyes seemed too wide. She was likely in shock. Another man was groaning in pain. Others… weren’t. Both of the doors were open.

They had to move. This might be their only chance at escape, and he was going to take it. But… which way should they go? He could go back to the infirmary, where they had woken up, and hope that some of the others were still there. Or, he could continue the way they were headed and hope to find the others in what must be a massive ship, full of dangerous prisoners, who were possibly all loose.

Boy, what a choice….

One decided to go with door number one, back the way they had come. He just wasn’t sure how to move Three. There was no gravity, so at least he didn’t have to worry about the other man’s larger mass, but his hands were stuck behind his back…. Or were they? After several moments of contorting, his hands, though still handcuffed, were in front of him.

He paused, considering what else they might need. Keys would be ideal, as would a weapon. Each of the guards had a baton strapped to their belt. A bit old fashioned, but a blow to the head could be very effective. Just look at all the guards. And the batons likely had taser-like capabilities, like that one they’d stolen on that research station. Electricity was also very effective for incapacitating people, One thought avoiding any glances at the head guard.

The guard nearest to him was slightly to the left. With a light kick, One maneuvered himself to the side of the guard. He was a middle-aged man, hair still dark brown but his beard entirely white except for a spot, just under his nose, where a little blood had turned it red.

One started fumbling at his belt, going for the obvious baton first. Did all the guards have keys? He wasn’t sure. He really didn’t want to go around patting down everyone’s pockets until he found the right set. It would be hazardous to be here that long, not to mention morbid.

He unsnapped the covering keeping the baton in place and pulled it out. He was about to start searching for keys when a voice behind him said, “Stop.”

One looked over his shoulder, careful not to move in any other way. It was the woman who’d taken the knock to the head but remained conscious. Her eyes were clearer, but she still seemed woozy. “Stop,” she said again. Her hand was vaguely pawing at her belt. She was reaching for her baton, One realized. She just wasn’t coordinated enough to undue the snap.

With renewed vigor One started searching along the middle-aged guard’s belt for his keys. His fingers couldn’t find anything, though. “Stop! Leave him alone!” the guard said, a hysteric edge to her tone.

“Do you have keys?” One asked her.

“Keys? No,” she responded, a confused look on her face. She clearly wasn’t processing this right yet. One felt for her. This was, well, pretty bad. And these weren’t his co-workers, his friends, his home. She must be terrified. “Just leave him alone.” There was a little click as her fingers undid the snap over the baton. Time to go.

He grabbed Three at the wrists and using his legs propelled them to the door, and then through it. Three groaned a little, but still didn’t wake.

One kept glancing over his shoulder, but no one followed.


	2. Chapter 2

It was harder to move in the hallway. In the smaller space between the doors, there was always a wall behind him he could push himself off of for momentum. In the hallway, there was only long straight walls. It made moving slow and awkward. One guessed that the original trip had taken them five minutes, but after what he thought was five minutes they had only made it past one of the three doors that came before the door to the infirmary. One sighed.

Three groaned, louder than the first few times. His head moved like he was looking around. One stopped, hope causing his heart to jump in his chest. “Three?” he asked, voice breathless.

Three groaned again. His voice was a low grumble when he asked, “What the hell happened to  
gravity?”

One let out a sigh of relief, a slight smile forming in his lips. “The grav and dampening must have failed while the sub-lights were still running. You hit your head pretty bad.”

“I don’t think ‘pretty bad’ even begins to cover it, Pretty Boy.”

“How do you feel?”

Three groaned again. “Like a cruiser crashed into my head.”

“Oh, that’s it?” One responded lightly. He kicked awkwardly with his legs to continue moving towards the infirmary.

“Where are we going?” Three asked after a moment. “And why are you behind me?”

“We’re going back to the infirmary. I’m hoping some of the others might be there. And we’re still handcuffed together, remember?”

“…Right. I must say, I never thought you’d be the one behind me. I always thought it would be the other way around.”

One felt heat creeping into his cheeks. Did that mean…? One hadn’t thought about Three that way. Not that he hadn’t noticed that the other man wasn’t attractive, but Three’s general asshole-ness tended to get in the way of any positive thoughts. He’d never thought that Three might not be trying to get under his skin with that nickname. The idea wasn’t as repulsive as it could have been. Maybe not appealing, but… it would require some thought.

Just then Three groaned. “Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.” One stopped moving, and their momentum slowed. “No, no, keep going, I’ll be fine. What’s a little vomit between friends, right?” 

One looked worriedly at Three; he was pale, and a little sweaty, and what One could see of his brow was furrowed with pain. “At least it wouldn’t actually be between us.”

“Heh,” Three laughed weakly. “But I’m not kidding, keep going. It’s not going to help anything floating around here.”

One frowned. “If you’re sure,” he said, and kicked out as gently as he could to push them forward.

“Fuck, this wall is ugly.”

“I think that’s the ceiling.”

“Oh. How much longer until we get there?”

“You sound like a child.”

“Yeah, well at least I’m not one.”

“…how badly did you hit your head that that is the best insult you can come up with?” If he was badly concussed it could impact One’s ability to get them to the infirmary and help the others. It could even get them recaptured. That was what was worrying One, he didn’t care for Three’s ability to make crappy jokes. If he’d thought of it as a way to shut Three up before, he would have tried it himself.

“Hey, it is a legitimate question. Our birth dates, along with the rest of our memories, are locked up in the Kid’s head.”

“I’m twenty-nine. I searched myself after that whole mess with Transfer Transit.”

“Really, that old? I had you pegged at about twelve.”

“Ha. Ha.” One was glad that Three couldn’t see the small smile tugging at his lips. It felt good to tell someone. And despite himself, One found Three’s shitty jokes relieving. “Like you’re an old man.”

“Probably done plenty more in a year than you have in all your twenty-nine years of life.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I can’t believe I ever thought you were the traitor.” Three scoffed. “You’re all soft. Big bleeding heart.”

“Really?” One’s tone felt cold, even to his own ears which suddenly felt warm with anger and embarrassment. They’d been through a lot but Three evidently still thought he was a liability. That he couldn’t take care of himself, let alone do his part to protect their crew. He may not have been the traitor, but he’d meant to kill Three; he couldn’t believe that Three thought so little of him that he hadn’t noticed.

“I mean sure I’ve seen you kill, but that was to protect people. One the mighty hero! But to kill? To hurt people? Just to get ahead in the world?” Three glanced back at him, eyes shining and mouth pulled up in a smirk. “Nah.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” One kept trying to focus on propelling them down the hall. He wasn’t going to let Three bug him, not now. He needed Three, he could admit that: hell, they were handcuffed together. But this conversation was dredging up the hatred that simmered so close to the surface, making him want nothing more than to shove the electric baton into the small of Three’s back.

“Don’t I? Why don’t you enlighten me?”

One decided to shut his mouth. They’d been getting along so well before, until Three opened his stupid mouth about One’s past. With all the stress One had been so grounded in the present, no chance to feel anything for the past. Until Three had brought it all bubbling up.

“No, you don’t get to clam up on me,” Three said, his joking expression turning fierce. “You’re hiding something. Maybe you’re not the nice guy you pretend to be, huh? You get this look in your eyes sometimes. Why’s that?”

“Just… drop it.” So he had noticed. One could tell that he’d eventually have to face Three with a proper explanation, but not now. Not on a disabled Galactic Authority max-security prison ship.

“Not likely, Pretty Boy. Maybe you are the traitor after all? Righteous cop undercover to take us all down?”

“No, I wasn’t a cop.” He couldn’t resist tacking on, “And I wasn’t there to take you all down.”

Three glanced back at him, and One realized he may have made a mistake. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

One kept his mouth shut this time, staring down the hall as Three studied him over his shoulder.

“Whatever you did, I bet it’s not anything I haven’t done but far worse,” Three taunted.

He hated how Three belittled him at every turn, how he seemed determined to take everything from him. Reaching his breaking point, he snapped, “Yes, what you’ve done is far worse.”

“You know it,” Three said all smug. The paleness kinda ruined it. “I’m a pirate, I’ve done it all. At least all the stuff worth doing.”

One wanted to take something from Three for a change. “I doubt it.”

“I bet I’ve robbed all the fanciest places, drunk all the best beer, loved all the best women,” he leered.

One laughed derisively. “I think we both know you spent your life alone, on the run. Anyone you loved, you hurt.”

Three winced, and One felt a little bad for bringing up Sarah, but he attacked before One had a chance to apologize. “And what did you do that was so great? What grand life leads a man to stealing a thief’s face?”

“I was an honest man with a loving wife. I had a good life.”

“You so sure about that?” Three asked quietly, looking over his shoulder at One with doubt in his eyes.

“Yes!” One snapped. By the media accounts, it had been blessed. Loving parents, good school, a sweet romance, and a career with not even a hint of scandal. He was sure there’d been bad parts, but nothing like most the galaxy faced.

“If it was so good then why’d you leave? If it were me I’d never have left.”

One felt a rage so strong it was like it was strangling him, all rational thought leaving him. “Maybe not. But your wife wasn’t murdered, leaving you with no choice but to change your face to bring her killer to justice.”

“What?” Three sounded a little shocked, and One couldn’t blame him. He couldn’t believe he just blurted it out like that.

“Never mind. Forget I said anything. Just a… possibility”

Three laughed angrily. “Yeah, right. Like that is going to happen. Someone murdered your wife? And you’re tracking down her killer on _The Raza_? Which one of us was it?”

“It doesn’t matter. It was a different life.” One didn’t believe that, though. Not really. It was still his life, even if he couldn’t remember it.

“Bullshit. That is bullshit, and you know it. If our pasts are a different life, why do people keep trying to kill us over it?” Three sounded really angry. He was twisting his head around, trying to get a look at One’s face. One avoided his gaze.

“Who was it? Clearly not the kid. Two… she said something. You’ve told her, haven’t you?” One didn’t respond. Three didn’t seem to care, as he kept barrelling on in his rant. “She said that it didn’t affect the whole crew, your hate for me. That…. Oh. I killed your wife. It was me, wasn’t it?”

One didn’t respond.

“Answer me, dammit! Not that it really matters; I know the answer. We might not have our memories, but still have these instincts. Like Five and the air-ducts, and me and… the vault. You hate me.” Three laughed darkly. “And here I thought that we got along pretty well. And you fucking hate me because I murdered your wife.”

“Yes.” Something in Three seemed to break at One’s voice. His shoulders slumped, and his voice was quiet, the anger gone, when he next spoke.

“What do we do now?”

“We get to the infirmary, find our friends, and get out of here.”

They kept moving in silence for a long time. They passed the two doors that came before the door to the infirmary, and One judged that they were almost there. Finally. His legs were getting tired from the odd movement required to propel them down the hall. And he knew that once they got there, this awful silence from Three would have to end.

Honestly, the silence was the worst part. One felt oddly guilty. Three had murdered his wife. He was also one of a handful of people who could understand what he was going through and would have his back in a fight as part of the crew of _The Raza_. He felt bad about what he had said about Sarah, that was uncalled for. Especially from someone Three had considered a friend. He should apologize.

But Three had murdered his wife.

One glanced up ahead of them, and caught sight of a door frame. He sighed in relief. “This should be the door.”

“Finally,” Three muttered.

“Listen, Three, I…” One trailed off, not sure what he meant.

Three twisted around, and One met his eyes this time. One wasn’t quite sure he could describe the look in them: hurt, but accepting probably came closest. He tried to dredge up the anger he’d felt only hours ago, the slow simmering murderous rage, but he couldn’t imagine being the cause of any more pain for Three. He couldn’t imagine putting a bullet between those eyes and adding more blood to Three’s sandy hair. He couldn’t really before, if he were being honest with himself. “I don’t want to kill you. I still hate you, and I probably always will, but it’s irrational hate. You’re… really, really annoying sometimes, but you’re part of the crew and you all are the closest thing I have now to family. This… my past… doesn’t change anything.”

Three smiled a little bit, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Glad to hear it, Pretty Boy.” One wondered, not for the first time, what he was really thinking.

The doors to the hall where they had woken a couple hours before was open just like every other door so far. One awkwardly used his feet to try and slow down and mostly ended pushing himself into Three’s back. Eventually they came to a stop outside the doors. “This is painful,” Three remarked.

“Oh, sorry,” One said and tried to move so he wasn’t pinning Three’s hands quite so tightly to his back.

“No, you’re fine.” Three made a hand wave that was probably supposed to be dismissive but ended up hitting One’s own hands, which were clutching the chain keeping them together along with the baton, and turned into a reassuring pat. That must have been what happened, an accidental touch due to the proximity, because Three wouldn’t… no. Especially after One had just admitted to wanting to kill him. “I’m talking about moving with these handcuffs. Fuck. This is taking forever.”

“Well, if you have any suggestions….” One said tiredly, feeling like he was being criticized.

“Yeah, I do. How about we turn like this,” he moved them so that they were facing the ceiling straight on, “and then I push like this,” He pushed off with his legs first from the wall opposite from the door, then off the ceiling, so they were headed more-or-less straight for the floor just outside the door, “and when we get close enough you push off from the floor so we don’t run into it.”

One did as asked and once they were through the first set of doors asked, “I take it you’re feeling better?”

“Well, my head no longer feels like a cruiser is trying to land in it.”

“That’s good,” One said, not really certain that it was. But he wasn’t as pale, at least. “What do we do next?”

“Find our friends, get out,” Three said like it was obvious.

“Gee, I couldn’t have figured that out on my own,” One snarked, annoyed. “I meant, what do we do once we get through those doors?” One nodded towards the doors, realized that was stupid because Three couldn’t see him, and then decided he didn’t care.

Three snorted. “I know what you meant. I’m not the guy with the plan. I’m the guy who gets hit in the head while executing the plan.”

“Okay,” he said, and could hear the strain of annoyance in his own voice. “Let’s see if we can see anyone, first.” He and Three both kicked out at the same time, resulting in them hurtling towards the door. Three let out a quick, startled curse. One yanked on Three’s hands, pulling himself closer to the door than the other man, and hunched his shoulders so that his back made impact with the door. He hit at a weird angle, his left shoulder hitting the partially closed door, his right less than a second later hitting the wall just above it. It hurt. A moment later Three’s body slammed into his, the force pushing his own body flat against the uneven surface and knocking the air from his body. The back of Three’s head hit his mouth and One tasted blood.

“Shit,” Three cursed again.

One sucked in air then spat out the blood in his mouth. It floated away, a little red glob of liquid. “You okay?” Three asked, worry clearly audible in his tone. One felt unfairly pleased with that. This was all his fault (even though, One knew, they were both equally to blame), so Three should feel something for the pain he had just caused One.

“Fine,” he replied, and put as much derision into the word as he could.

“Sorry I asked,” Three grumbled. One glared at the back of his head. He really hated him.

Suddenly, Three’s shoulders sagged. “We suck at this.”

“This?” One asked, confused.

“Getting along. Working together.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“It’s like we’re dancing with two left feet. Except instead of dancing, we’re crawling down hallways handcuffed together with no gravity and no good plan.” One smiled slightly at the imagery.

“So what do you suggest?” he asked, the anger subverted for the moment.

Three sighed. “I don’t know. For now we’re going to have to put up with each other stepping on our toes,” One appreciated Three’s light tone, but when he spoke again, his voice was quiet, lost, “after that… I don’t know.”

One had only heard that tone from Three once before, and it had been after Sarah had died. Like then, he felt the urge to comfort Three. He awkwardly covered Three’s hands with his own. “Okay. Let’s, carefully, see if we can see anyone.”

“Okay,” Three said, humor back in his voice.

Neither of them moved.

“Um,” Three said, “I think we actually need to be more specific about how we’re doing this.”

“Right. I’ll push off and you see if you can see anyone.”

“Whatever you say, Pretty Boy.”

One pushed against the wall and then the ceiling so that Three was in front of the door which was still open. Three craned his neck around, trying to see out of the small space, and then said, “All clear.”

“So there’s no one?”

“No one I can see. Just a bunch of open doors.”

“I’m pretty sure they were all closed before.” One tried to remember, but he had been so focused on Three that he couldn’t be sure. What if only the cells with prisoners inside had had closed doors? What if there were people lurking out of sight ready to attack them, and they wouldn’t be prepared, because he had been panicking? Stupid.

“We should check each cell anyway. Hopefully it’s just our crew left, but if we go in carefully and  
quietly and check every cell that should save us from any fights,” Three reasoned.

“You? Scared of a fight?” One asked, mostly teasing.

Three scoffed. “I’m not scared. I just don’t want to fight with you dragging me down.”

“Right. Having your hands handcuffed behind your back wouldn’t affect you at all.”

“You know me, Pretty Boy; a little thing like that only makes it more fun.”

One rolled his eyes, but he caught himself still smiling. When Three wasn’t insulting him, he could be entertaining. Too bad he spent most of his time being insulting.

Three nodded. “Let’s start with the door on the right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If y'all want to leave me a comment or kudos for my birthday, it'd be much appreciated :) I'd especially like to hear about any errors or spots for improvement, as I'm doing a certificate in editing and I've been practicing my skills while posting this.


	3. Chapter 3

Since the entirety of the cell was designed to be seen from the door, checking the cells took little time. Three stuck his head in the already open door, and One kept watch to make sure no one snuck up behind them. They’re just over halfway through when Three said, “It’s Five!”

“Three?” exclaimed Five, and as One and Three propelled themselves further into the cell, she added, “One?” She sounded on the verge of tears, but happy. They made it fully into the room and One was relieved to see her completely unharmed. She also wasn’t in any restraints.

She hugged them, gently, managing not to twinge any injuries. Three still complained, “Watch it, Kid,” but it was half-hearted. He ruined the tough guy image by following it up with, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, letting them go and floating farther back so that she could see them both in their awkward position. “I woke up when FTL failed, but thought it would be best to stay in bed where it’s well padded in case anything else went wrong. I didn’t get more than a few bruises from the grav and dampeners failure.”

“That’s good,” said One. “Judging by the impact we experienced, the ship must have been going at least 100 kilometres an hour when grav and the dampeners failed. That’s enough to break bones.”

“Where exactly were you when they failed?” Five asked.

“They were transporting us to processing,” One quickly filled her in on all the details.

“Say, how’d you get us away from the guards, anyway? I remember being surrounded by ten when grav and the dampeners failed. It’s a bit blurry after that,” Three asked.

“You don’t remember?” Five asked, concerned.

“He was knocked unconscious,” One told her. “We were lucky. A lot of guards looked like they had bad injuries. At least a few were dead. The few that were conscious couldn’t lift a finger to stop us.”

“I’m not sure it would take more than that to stop either of you. You look awful,” Five said.

“Hey,” Three protested, but it was weak. “I could still take ten GA guards, even with Pretty Boy here weighing me down.”

“Exactly how hard did you hit your head?” quipped Five.

“Ha.”

One chuckled quietly. Three glanced back at him subtly, a bit of a surprised look on his face. One supposed that Three hadn’t seen him smiling at his last few jokes due to the way they were handcuffed. Maybe One should be surprised at himself for laughing at the jokes of his wife’s murderer. One sobered, and Three looked away quickly.

“What about guards here? Have you seen anyone?” One asked Five.

“Not exactly. There was a commotion not long after grav and the dampeners failed. Screaming.” Five shuddered. “I thought it would be best to stay here until I had a better idea of what was going on.”

“Where did the screaming come from?” One asked.

Five wordlessly propelled herself to the door. She made it look graceful, and he was reminded of a fairy, the way she floated, her hair a colourful puff around her head.

Him and Three, not so much. They both pushed off at the same time, but where One gently nudged the floor for soft momentum, Three kicked at the wall closest to them. One was going straight up, but Three was heading backwards at a much faster rate. One flinched his head to the side just in time to avoid his nose being crushed by the back of Three’s head, but the collision still hurt, startling him. And it sent them spinning disconcertingly, the walls, ceiling, floor, all passing by far too quickly. Damn Three!

Five saved them, grabbing onto the blankets on the bed to ground herself before grabbing hold of One’s pants leg to stop their perpetual motion.

One came out of the spin fuming, head woozy but for the thought that this was all Three’s fault. He destroyed everything, his big hands crushing while the smirk stayed on his face, no care for the hurt he was causing, how he was taking away everything from One. He hated him so much. It was a hate stronger than anything he’d ever felt before, a burning chunk of ice in his chest. It had been there since he’d first laid eyes on the man and grew bigger daily.

“Damnit Three,” he hissed.

Three glanced over his shoulder and they made eye contact. Three looked… he looked bad. His eyes were tired, and there was something in them that One hadn’t really seen before. Guilt, maybe, or contrition. Like when Sarah passed. It threw him off, seeing those blue eyes like that. It caused a different kind of heat to bloom in his chest, a softer one, protective. Three was a member of _The Raza_ , the only family he could remember. He couldn’t see him hurt.

Three closed his eyes, breath shallow and unnatural. One frowned, his concern deepening. “Are you okay?”

Three shook his head wordlessly, then clearly regretted the motion, scowling. The fierce spinning had obviously aggravated his concussion. “Peachy,” he managed to quip.

“Catch your breath,” One said, and hesitantly laid a hand on one of Three’s in apology. Three’s face twisted slightly, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Try not to puke everywhere.” Three let out a strained chuckle.

One glanced at Five and saw that she was watching them in thoughtful concern. He felt certain she had thoughts about how he’d reacted to his and Three’s mistake, that she was passing silent judgement about what she’d just witnessed. She bit her lip, but didn’t say anything.

“He hit his head pretty bad, huh,” she finally said quietly.

“Yeah,” One sighed.

“Do you think the others are okay?”

One paused, considered lying. But she had more than proven how capable she was of handling this life they’d all found themselves in. “I hope so,” he settled on. Maybe they all needed a bit of the lie found in hope right now.

“They better be,” Three grouched. “If y’all think I’m not using this to get the good protein bars for a week, you’re so wrong.”

One and Five chuckled, faintly, and exchanged relieved glances.

“I’m going to push off towards the door now,” One said, the guilt weighing heavy. “If you’re ready?”

Three shook his head. “What happens if there’s an emergency? We need to act, fast, no time to talk? Which, let’s be honest, is likely with us,” Three chuckled. His meaning was clear: they couldn’t get along. Not even now, handcuffed together, life depending on it.

“Let’s hope they have something to cut these chains with in the infirmary.”

“Yeah,” Three sighed, and One wished he’d look at him again. “Let’s go; the Kid’s waiting. You push off, I’ll slow us at the door”

Wordlessly, One pushed them towards the door and Five. Three stopped them, just like he said. It all worked perfectly. They didn’t look at each other, and One felt anger burning in his chest again, although he couldn’t quite tell who it was aimed at.

“When grav and the dampeners failed, I heard something from that room,” Five said, pointing at a room a few doors away, closer to the hall to the rest of the ship than they were now. “Then someone moving towards the infirmary. Then, screaming. I couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like a man and a woman.” She sounded shaken. One wished he could put a hand on her shoulder, then wished Six or Two were here to do it. They were much better with Five than he was.

“We’ll find them,” Three shocked them all by saying. “Two, Four, Six,” after a pause, “The robot. We’ll find them.”

“You mean it?” Five asked, eyes shining. “Because when we were gassed I was so sure it was Two. That she was the traitor.”

“Yeah,” Three said, briefly glancing over his shoulder at One. “There was a lot of that going around.” The statement was neither accusatory nor guilty, but One felt the truth of both meanings. Everything was such a mess.

“We weren’t entirely wrong, though,” One reasoned. “Someone deactivated the Android, drugged Four and Six, and gassed us. And we searched the ship— there was no one but us.”

“But— there must have been. We were there! All of us! There was no one left to gas us,” Five insisted.

“Appearances can be deceiving,” remarked Three.

One ducked his head in guilt. He’d been so sure he was right; he’d known that either he was going to kill Three or Three was going to kill him. If only he’d stopped to think deeper than the appearance of things, they might not be on a GA prison ship stranded who knows where.

Five stared at Three, wide eyed. Maybe she was having a similar realization. Maybe Three was, too.

“Come on,” One said. “Maybe we’ll find everyone in the infirmary.”

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Three asked. One’s jaw dropped. The two of them could barely get along, and here was Three asking him what the plan was? Three glanced back at him. “What? I’m too woozy, and the Kid’s, well… a kid,” he dismissed her. She rolled her eyes but didn’t speak up. “It’s on you, Pretty Boy.”

“Alright,” One felt oddly warmed by the trust, even worded as it was as a last resort. Although…. One peeled the fingers of his emotions off his brain for a moment and thought about Three. He’d commented back at the beginning that he used humour as a coping mechanism. He might be deflecting through putting down One, but if he was asking him to make a decision he must trust him.

He quickly studied the hall and sighed. “I don’t think there’s much choice in the matter. We have to see who is in the infirmary, but this hallway offers no cover. We have to move fast and hope whoever is in there doesn’t see us coming.” His tone laced with humour, he said, “Three will go first,” Tree scoffed, muttering _of course_ under his breath. One continued more seriously, “Five, you last. At the door we’ll have to quickly scope the room and attack whoever looks dangerous. Knock them out with the shock stick.”

“Woah, how long have you had that?” Three asked, turning to try and see their hands.

“Since I stole it from the guards. Five, wait outside the infirmary until it’s safe.”

“No,” Five said. One blinked at her in shock. “It doesn’t make any sense for me to wait outside while the two of you try to contort yourselves so that you can actually use that on someone. Give it to me.” She held out her hand for the shock stick.

“It’ll be dangerous,” One said. He didn’t want to put her in danger, but more so he didn’t want to ask her to wield a weapon against someone else.

“And Two’ll kick our asses if you get hurt,” Three remarked. One rolled his eyes.

“I could just take it from you,” Five said, and he believed her.

“Okay,” One said and handed it over.

Three caught his eye, and One was certain that he was going to say something. He looked so worried. But he just nodded before looking away.

“Okay,” he said, not feeling very confident. There was so much that could go wrong. If there was someone in one of the rooms between them and the infirmary, they could be completely blindsided or trapped with no way back to the rest of the ship. It was risky giving Five their only weapon, but he couldn’t see an alternative that would put her in less danger. His and Three’s shoddy teamwork may break down again. And then there was the unknown of what lay at the end of the hall. It could be nothing, or none of their crew, which amounted to the same thing. But it sounded like whoever was down there was dangerous so chances were it was one of them. “Three, we’ll propel ourselves down the hall just like we did before. On the count of three: one, two, three!”

They launched themselves into the hall and successfully started propelling themselves down it. It was a quick trip, despite the worry pounding a quick rhythm in One’s chest. They got to the end of the hall, but their landing was rocky. They had too much momentum built up and hit the wall with a bang.

Inside, One heard a panicked woman say, “What was that?”

One, Three, and Five peered around the door. Their loud landing was a hitch, the attention meaning they’d have to move quickly to keep surprise and being the instigators in their advantage. That meant they only had a second to survey the infirmary where they should have had all the time they needed.

The infirmary reminded One very much of the one on _The Raza_ , only scaled up. Where _The Raza_ had two beds, there were twenty. Where _The Raza_ had one quarantine room, there were ten. Where _The Raza_ had a small medical cabinet, there were five big ones. And on the list went. But none of that really mattered, because close to the door lying strapped to a table was Four. He was still unconscious.

In a corner floated a nurse— the one that had discharged him earlier, One was pretty sure. She was probably the one who had heard their landing. Though not the only one, because floating towards them was a burly bald man covered in tattoos. He didn’t look rushed or alarmed, just on edge. His arm looked broken.

Without turning his head Three murmured, “You ready, Kid?”

“Better be,” was all she said, breathless, before launching herself at the man.

“Come on,” One said, and they went into the room after her. One wasn’t sure what they’d do if Five got in trouble, but at least they’d be close.

He worried needlessly. The shock stick was easy to use: just touch someone with the electrified end, and hold down the button. Five was quick, the man barely had time to start backpedaling before she was within arm’s reach. Then it was over, the man just floating there.

One sighed in relief, and saw Three do the same.

“Stay where you are!” the nurse screamed. She was holding a scalpel, and he had no doubt she knew how to use it. And was willing.

Her eyes were huge black pits, darting everywhere. Her black curls were bloodied, and it looked like she had cracked her head in the grav and dampeners failure. There was a slowly blackening bruise on her face, just below her left eye. One could see other marks, mostly peeking out from under her scrubs. He thought he saw finger marks on her throat and started looking at the big guy differently. He started seeing some more details in the infirmary that he’d missed in his first look, like splinting tools and a large syringe that looked like it had just been used.

“Woah lady!” Three said, propelling them in front of Five.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” One said in his most reassuring voice. “We’re just trying to find our friends and stay safe.”

“Stay away!” she repeated, pushing herself backwards with one hand without looking away. One traced her trajectory and noticed a guard securely strapped to one of the beds. It looked like she had gotten the worst of the grav and dampeners failure. The left side of her body looked swollen strangely, including her head. She was tucked away farthest from the door, and the nurse was putting herself between the guard and them.

“We’ll stay over here,” One said. “Don’t worry. We’re sorry if we scared you by moving so quickly, we’re just trying to protect our friend.” When the woman didn’t respond, he said, “Five, you okay?”

One glanced back to watch Five float in, knowing Three would keep an eye on the nurse. He was struck, suddenly, by how easy it was to trust Three in high pressure situations. A trust which Three had more than earned.

Five floated slightly higher so the nurse could see her clearly over their shoulder’s, but staying firmly behind them. She was holding the shock stick behind her, One noticed. Smart girl. She waved at the nurse and smiled, utterly sweet and disarming. “Hi.”

The nurse lowered the scalpel a bit. “If you want to stay safe,” she said, after a long minute of staring at them, “you should do something with him before he wakes up.” She pointed the scalpel at the man Five had shocked unconscious.

“Okay,” One hesitated. He wondered what she meant by _do something with him_. Did she think they should kill him? Who did she think they were? Then it hit him: she’d probably heard rumours about the crew of _The Raza_. Working on a supermax prison ship, she probably had a better idea than most what the criminals of the galaxy were capable of. She probably would have thought it merciful if all they did was kill him. “We should get him strapped onto one of these tables. Will you check him after? To make sure we haven’t hurt him too badly?”

The nurse’s hand tightened around the scalpel, before she lowered it completely. “That’s my job.”

“Alright,” Three said, the “lady” implied in his tone. “Kid, we’re going to need someone with hands for this. We’ll keep the weapon trained on him, you strap him down.”

“Sure,” Five piped, passing the shock stick to One before getting to work by pushing the man closer to the nearest table.

“ _We’ll_ keep a weapon trained on him?” One quipped.

Three shot him a look, the first time he’d taken his eyes off the nurse. His expression wasn’t the cocky one that One was expecting. It was a good imitation, but Three’s eyebrows were knitted a little too closely together. He looked like he was thinking about something he didn’t like. “You will and I’ll stand out of the way.”

Three thought he hated him, One realized. It dragged the corners of his lips down, even though it was oftentimes true. He didn’t want to hate Three, was One’s second realization.

Five secured the unconscious man easily, but it took a couple minutes. After the first thirty seconds of silence, One was getting antsy. He didn’t like that Three thought he hated him, and even though he knew that he wasn’t looking at him because he was busy keeping track of the nurse and the unconscious man he couldn’t help but feel like he’d lost something. Three didn’t look good, either, the concussion obviously still leaving him woozy and nauseous. Five was keeping her cool, but kept glancing under her eyelashes at Three and him, or the nurse. The nurse looked ready to fly at them at any moment, scalpel still clutched in her hand. One needed to do something to ease the tension in the room.

“Is she going to be okay?” he asked, nodding at the guard.

The nurse followed his gaze to the woman behind her, then glanced quickly up at the light blinking furiously. “I don’t know,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s hard not knowing.”

“Is there any more that can be done for her? That we can do?” Five asked.

“No, no,” the nurse reassured. She seemed to have taken a liking to Five. It was hard not to.

“Sometimes the best thing when you’re hurt is sleep,” Three said softly. Then, sounding a bit more like his usual self, “She’ll get to sleep right through all of this and get to wake up with paid sick leave, lucky lady.”

The nurse didn’t say anything, but she looked a little less likely to cut someone at the drop of a pin.

“What about Four?” Five asked, finishing tying up the unconscious man.

“Who?” the nurse asked, confused.

“Our friend,” Five said, pointing to where Four lay strapped on his own table. Remembering herself, she added, “Ryo Tetsuda.”

“He was drugged. He’ll wake up after I give him the counteragent. No harm done.”

“Counteragent? Is that here?” One asked.

The nurse considered them for a moment, scalpel held tightly. “I’m supposed to go along with the demands of prisoners in the case of hostage situations.”

“So that’s a yes,” Three smirked.

“Am I a hostage?” she asked with a tremble in her voice.

Three, Five, and One quickly exchanged glances. He could see the guilt on each of their faces. They didn’t want to scare this woman who had already been through so much that day. She was just there to do her job. And she hadn’t done anything to them.

But guilt is only felt by the guilty.

“Yes,” One said.

He kept his focus on the nurse; he felt like he owed her that respect, as laughable as that might sound. She took a shaky breath but nodded, clearly prepared to do what it would take to get out of this alive. He could respect that. And it would be easier for them if she was willing to cooperate.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the reactions of his crew mates. Three got that look like he was considering something he didn’t like again. Five started gnawing her lip.

“Just let me check Billy first,” the nurse agreed.

“Billy?” Five asked, staring down at the man.

The nurse pursed her lips. “Don’t worry, shock sticks rarely have any lasting health effects. And he won’t feel anything, not with the dose of pain killers I gave him for his broken arm.” Five nodded solemnly.

“Come on, Kid,” Three gently said to Five, nodding to lead the way to Four’s bedside. One let himself be propelled by Three, only reluctantly taking his eyes off the nurse


	4. Chapter 4

“Where is everyone else?” Five asked them quietly, floating by Four’s head. She gently reached out and found his pulse point, smiling slightly at its steady beat.

“I don’t know,” One admitted with a sigh. “It doesn’t make sense that only Four is here. Two was drugged when we were, but considering who she is she probably woke up first.”

“Probably woke up hours before the rest of us,” Three joked.

“Right. So it makes sense that she’s not here. And the Android is probably being kept in a separate part of the ship, designed for droids. But where’s Six? He was drugged just like Four. It doesn’t make any sense for them to wake up just one of them. Six should be here.”

“You don’t think Tiny…” Three trailed off, eyebrows raised. But One could see him slowly considering his words and finding the truth in them.

“No, he wouldn’t!” Five denied it, shaking her head. One knew it was breaking her heart to even consider it. But she looked betrayed, so she was thinking it through too.

“I’m not saying he did, but it’s strange that he isn’t here,” One soothed.

“But he was drugged just like Four, how could he have done everything else? Gassed us and called the GA?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. Nothing made sense, least of all this.

“There’s one person we can ask,” Three said looking pointedly at the nurse.

“She would know if he’d been woken up earlier for some reason. Or brought in at all,” One said.

“It can’t hurt to ask,” Five agreed but she sounded hesitant.

And then they both looked at him expectantly.

“Fine,” One sighed, glancing at the nurse who was checking the unconscious man’s pupils. She didn’t seem to have heard their conversation, despite how close they were and how quiet the ship was without the engines running. Perhaps she was focused on her work, but One thought she had been staring at the unconscious man’s pupils for rather a long time.

“Hold onto this, please?” he asked Five, passing her the shock stick. He hoped he would be less threatening if he approached the nurse without it.

“Excuse me, uh… nurse,” One said, realizing he didn’t know her name and she wasn’t wearing a name tag. She looked up, eyes wide. “Sorry, what’s your name?” Her eyes got even wider, if that was possible, and he realized he’d already threatened her without meaning to. He could see why she wouldn’t want the crew of _The Raza_ to know her name. For all he knew there was a rumour that they could assume someone’s identity by only knowing their name. He quickly backpedaled. “Nevermind, nurse is fine.”

“Okay,” she said shakily.

“We were just wondering if anyone else had been brought in like Ryo? Drugged unconscious in the same way? But woken up for some reason.”

“No, no one else in the same state,” the nurse answered. One carefully watched her face, but only saw slight confusion. He didn’t think she would lie, anyway, not when she was so terrified of them. But, as One was learning, there may be more to a person than what meets the eye.

“Was there anyone in the infirmary today other than the people in this room?” he asked.

“Yes, a woman from your crew. She woke and was moved to processing maybe an hour before you two.”

One exchanged glances with Three and Five. Three looked accepting of the information but troubled, his mouth locked in a grimace. Five looked devasted.

“Thank you,” One said. The nurse looked a little uneasy about having obviously given them such bad news. He tried to put her back at ease by asking, “How is he?”

“Fine, but I’ll have to keep monitoring until he wakes up to be sure.”

“Good, good,” One said.

“But I can wake up your friend now!” she said, the desperate false cheer evident in her voice.

One smiled, but it felt strained. “That would be nice.”

“Just let me collect a few supplies,” she said, then floated over to a nearby medical cabinet.

One watched her, wondering if she was the type to hurt or kill a perceived threat if given the chance. Should they take the chance of letting her near Four? But if they didn’t, could they find another way to wake him? One didn’t think they could manage to find Two, Six, and the Android while dragging his unconscious body around. He doubted they could even find _The Raza_. But was that better than the risk of Four never waking up?

One considered, for a brief moment, what it would feel like living on _The Raza_ after this without Four. It felt a little less safe, a little less like home. He imagined Four’s racks of swords left untouched. It was sad.

He watched the nurse take a tiny vile from cold storage. She looked competent and sure, and he wanted to trust her. But he didn’t want to see that version of _The Raza_ come to be. Were they making the right choice? He turned to Three to find the blond already studying him over one shoulder, a line between his brows. “What did you used to do?” He made a vague circular motion with one of the hands cuffed between them. “Ya know, before.”

One blinked, thrown by the very differing train of thought. Three always found ways to shock him. But, One supposed, there was no point in denying Three this one piece of his past; not when he knew the rest. “I was the CEO of a multicorp.”

It was Three’s turn to look shocked, and One was willing to admit a little satisfaction at that. But Three’s shocked face melted into one of sadness, and One looked away.

“Come on,” One said, and gently pushed off towards the nurse. She looked up from removing a needle from its packaging. “What are you doing?” One asked in his softest tone.

“This is the stuff that’ll wake up your friend,” she explained, adding the name of the drug and some other facts that One didn’t quite understand. He noticed Three nodding along, though. They watched the nurse closely as she plunged the needle into the vile and drew out the required amount, then checked it for bubbles.

“May I?” Three asked. The nurse handed the needle to him. One noticed her worrying her lip, but Three nodded and handed it back. “Looks good,” he said.

“So I’ll give him the shot now,” the nurse said. “If that’s okay?”

One glanced at Three and Five quickly. They both seemed eager; Five especially, her eyes aglow.

“Great,” One said. They’d done all they could to ensure she was doing what she said. He had to trust that was enough.

The shot was quick and simple, into Four’s arm. “He should be awake in five minutes, a little groggy but none the worse for it.” The man they’d knocked unconscious began to make noises, vague mumbling like someone waking up, and the nurse said, “Excuse me.”

They all stared at Four’s unconscious form for a moment, then Five said, “We should unstrap him.”

Three laughed. “That’s dumb.”

Five frowned. “Why?’

“He’s dangerous,” Three said.

“We’re all dangerous,” she said, rolling her eyes like only a teenager can.

“Yeah, but he’s extra dangerous. He’s like a big, muscular cat— he kills just ‘cause he can.” Five frowned, but she didn’t deny it. “Besides, when he was last awake, he was ready to kill any of us because he was certain one of us was the traitor. You think waking up in a strange ship with us hovering over him is going to make him trust us all of a sudden?”

“That’s why we should unstrap him! If he’s restrained he’ll assume the worst.”

“Whereas if he’s unstrapped he’ll assume the worst and be able to strangle us with his bare hands.”

“You’re wrong,” Five declared. “One, what do you think?”

One felt torn. He wanted to believe Four wouldn’t hurt them, but he remembered the state he’d woken up in. He’d been so certain of Three’s guilt. They didn’t know what Four would be thinking or feeling, and he was dangerous. But if he woke up restrained he’d be furious. “You both make good points. Maybe there’s a compromise?”

All Three did was scoff, but One knew he was about to say something demeaning, so he spoke first. “Just hear me out.”

“Why? So you can side with the Kid and run off and do each other’s hair? This is the adult world, and-”

“Would you stop!” Five interrupted. “You might think you’re being funny, but all you’re doing is being hurtful. You belittle and attack everyone, especially One. And then you wonder why you don’t have any friends!”

One smiled at the shocked look on Three’s face, but Five saw and turned on him next. “And you’re just as bad! Why do you always assume that Three is the bad guy? What did he ever do to you that was that bad?”

One felt shame creep into his cheeks and ducked his head. Three, though, sounded truly ashamed when he said, “I murdered his wife.”

“What…?” Five asked, looking between the two of them, shock and confusion paling her face.

One stared at Three, who had that sad little crinkle between his eyes like when Sarah had died. He looked like he wanted to take it all back. Well, One would let him, but it wasn’t that easy to bring people back to life.

Three looked away, staring at Four. “What were you going to suggest?”

“If we unstrap him he’ll be floating around unconscious. He could get seriously hurt if something happens.” He saw Three perk up slightly, obviously believing One was about to agree with him. “But,” - Three deflated again - “we can’t leave him restrained. He’d be pretty pissed.”

“So we’re screwed either way?” Three asked. It didn’t sound as cheerful as usual.

“Maybe,” One admitted. He and Three locked eyes again. One swallowed, heavily, wondering if Three was thinking about their situation as well. “But maybe there’s a compromise. Maybe just undo some of the restraints?”

“That makes a lot of sense!” Five agreed. “If we just undo one arm he can undo the rest himself when he wakes up.”

They both looked at Three. He nodded, sad little crinkle still in place. “That’s a good idea.”

One and Three stood back and watched while Five took the restraints off Four’s right arm. “Do you think he’ll be okay?” she asked, hesitating with the final strap of the restraints, her hand just brushing his.

“Yes,” One said with the relief of honesty.

“He always lands on his feet,” Three said. One wanted to smile at the joke.

“Good,” Five sighed and finished removing the restraints.

One glanced behind them at the nurse. The man they’d knocked unconscious was awake now, but he seemed pretty out of it. That was likely the painkillers. The nurse was gently taking his pulse as he apologized for hitting her.

“We should see if there’s something in here that can get these cuffs off us,” One said to Three.

Three opened his mouth to say something, but a sound in the hallway stopped him. It sounded like boots hitting the wall beside the door, just like the sound they’d made. Three swore.

And then a guard came flying through the door holding the worst possible thing— a gun. One could just see its black barrel pointing towards them from over Three’s shoulder. This was really bad. But at least the guard probably couldn’t see the shock stick as his and Three’s bodies mostly blocked Five from view. “Hands where I can see them!”

Out of the corner of his eye he watched Five looking for a place to stash the shock stick. Four didn’t seem to be awake yet, but if the nurse had been telling the truth he should be any minute now. One hadn’t considered the possibility that they might not be able to unbind Five when he awoke. Undoing one of his hands had been a good choice.

“Hands up!” the guard snapped again, the gun firmly trained on them. No, on Three— he was in front of One. If the guard fired, Three would be shot.

“We can’t!” One said, panicked.

“We’re handcuffed together, you idiot!” Three shouted. He rattled the chains. “See?”

One saw the guard’s finger tighten. He probably didn’t like being called an idiot. One’s imagination ran wild for a moment, imagining making it back to _The Raza_ without Three. It was something he’d imagined before, of course, once or twice when he was thinking about killing Three. The quiet that he’d thought of as peaceful now became an emptiness like an abandoned house. That version of _The Raza_ was unthinkable.

“Don’t shoot!” One shouted. He just had to find a way to talk down the guard until Five could hide the shock stick. “We’ll do what you want, we just can’t put our hands up.”

The gun didn’t waver. “Move away from the patient.”

“Right away officer,” Three said. One winced at the snark.

Movement caught One’s eye, and he surreptitiously glanced down to see Four’s unbound right hand taking the shock stick from Five and hiding it under his body. One gripped Three’s hand, hoping he’d get the hint that Five had hidden the stick. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Five raise her hands.

Just in the nick of time. “Move!” the guard snapped.

“Alright, alright,” said Three. He gently pushed off from the floor, moving them away from Four’s table while he remained facing the guard.

“They have a shock stick!” the nurse blurted.

Three cursed and started backpedaling.

“No we don’t!” shouted One.

The guard aimed, the gun pointed at Three’s chest.

One was certain Three was about to be shot, when Two burst through the door. She slammed into the guard, neatly disarmed him, and knocked him over the head with his own gun rendering him unconscious.

One breathed a sigh of relief. Five floated to Two and hugged her, saying, “I’m so glad you’re safe!” The Android came in behind Two, and she also got a hug. It was sweet, and One smiled. Now they just needed to find Six and _The Raza_ , and they’d be home safe and sound.

“Good timing,” Four said. He was finishing removing his restraints, and seemed none the worse for being drugged. “I suggest we restrain the guard before he wakes.”

“Good thinking,” Two said. She scanned the room, her eyes stopping on One and Three. Her face remained neutral, but that little amused twinkle One liked was in her eyes. “What happened to the two of you?”

One exchanged glances with Three. “It’s a long story.”

Two nodded. “Save it for when we’re back on the ship then. Android, get the chains off those two. I’ll deal with the guard.”

“Where’d that nurse go?” Three asked as the Android glided over to them. One glanced around and spotted her huddled by the original guard.

“I’ll deal with her.” Four still had the shock stick, One noticed with dismay.

He exchanged glances with Three and Five, their earlier conversation about how dangerous Four could potentially be playing through their mind. Four hadn’t been awake to see how scared the nurse was. How she really had just been trying to stay safe while doing her job. All he’d seen was her give them away. To One’s surprise it was Three who spoke first. “Don’t hurt her.”

Four paused. “I’ll just watch her.”

“She helped us wake you,” Five explained floating over to help.

“Hello,” said the Android as she came over. It was hard to describe as floating, not when compared with Five or even Two. The Android moved through the air like that was the only way she had ever moved, with no considerations like up or down. It reminded One a little of the videos from Terra Prime of sharks. She straightened when she reached them, and she was just the quirky Android again. She gripped the chains first between them, snapping them apart. Then she took hold of the cuffs around each of their wrists in turn and deftly snapped them.

One rubbed his wrists gingerly, mindful of all the places where they’d rubbed in the past hour. “Thanks,” he said.

Three started rolling his shoulders. “Much obliged.”

“My pleasure,” the Android chirped. She then moved off to assist Two.

One glanced at Three to find him already looking at him, that sad crinkle on his face. “Listen,” Three began, then when Two started talking said hastily, “Later.”

One nodded, unsure there was anything left for them to say.

“Okay everyone,” Two said. “Let’s go get our ship.”

“What about Six?” Five asked.

“He betrayed us,” Two said. “We ran into him as we were making our escape. He’s a GA cop, has been this whole time.”

“No! He wouldn’t!” Five denied.

“I’m sorry,” Two said. She sounded heartbroken. “Come on, let’s go.”

And they left, leaving the nurse behind with two unconscious and restrained guards and a drugged prisoner. She seemed relieved. The trip through the ship was surprisingly simple. The Android had downloaded the schematics and knew exactly where _The Raza_ lay in the docking bay, and which corridors to take to get there. There were barely any guards left standing; apparently someone else had planned a prison break, explaining the systems failures of the ship and all the unconscious or dead guards along the way. And where there were guards still standing, well, they were the crew of _The Raza_.

One looked around at their crew as Two guided _The Raza_ away from the prison ship and into FTL. So Six was the traitor. One wouldn’t think him capable of it, but One wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do the same thing if he thought it meant saving lives. Not that he’d been very focused on saving lives lately. One felt his eyes being drawn to Three, who caught his gaze and nodded towards the hall. One followed him through the halls of _The Raza_ , glad to be walking with gravity holding him firmly to the ground again, to Three’s room. After closing the door, he turned to find Three facing him with that sad crinkle. One didn’t want Three to look at him like that anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Three said. “I’m sorry for killing your wife, and for… whatever else I might have done then. I’m sorry, One.”

One hung his head, avoiding Three’s gaze. He felt guilty. “We don’t know for sure that you did anything,” he said, stumbling over his words.

Three scoffed. “Yeah right. You must have been damn certain to go to the effort of changing your face and infiltrating _The Raza_. Besides. I did bad things. Killing your wife for the money, that seems like something I’d do.”

One nodded, conceding the point. But that didn’t quite fit what he knew of Three, at least not now. That wasn’t the man who had spoken up for the nurse who’d betrayed them. That wasn’t the man who comforted Five. And that wasn’t the man who One trusted absolutely when there was danger. “Not anymore,” One said.

“What?” Three asked, and he sounded so vulnerable. One wished they were still handcuffed together so he could reach out a hand and comfort Three, because he didn’t know how to do that now.

“That may have been who you were, but it’s not who you are now. I’m sorry it took me so long to see that.” One chuckled, “Five’s right, you know. You’ve never done anything to me, not that I can remember. It’s the opposite, really: whenever my back has been to a wall, you’ve been there. You might talk like an asshole, but you don’t act like one.”

Three stared at him, mouth open in speechless shock. It was a good replacement for the little sad crinkle, One thought. Finally, Three found his voice, and asked, “You don’t hate me?”

“I do,” One admitted. “It’s like a reflex, like Two looking at the ship’s controls and knowing what to do. I look at you and I hate you.”

“I’m not hearing a ‘but’ in there,” Three pointed out.

“But,” One said, rolling his eyes, “not all reflexes are good. I think I can learn new responses to the sight of you. I think I have been, already.”

“Let me get this straight,” Three said. “You hate my face, but you think you can learn not to.”

“Pretty much.”

“Come on, who can hate this face,” Three pouted.

“It’s much easier than you’d think.”

Three sobered. “I’m going to try to stop being so insulting. But you know I’m just joking, right?” One shook his head. “No, I guess I can be mean without intending to. I’m sorry.”

One sighed. “Thank you. I’m going to try to assume you’re not the worst all the time. But it’s going to be hard. I don’t know if we’re ever going to have a normal relationship.”

Three laughed. “Pretty Boy, who on this ship does?”

One laughed. It felt good. “Fair point. Anyway, we should get going. The others will be wondering, and we should probably see how badly we both hit our heads to be saying all this.”

“Who’s the joker now, eh?” Three asked as they walked out into the hall.

“I’m being completely serious.”

“Hardy har har,” Three mocked. “You act like we don’t get hit on the head all the time.”

“Exactly. Sooner or later all that trauma is bound to add up. Make us the good guys, or something.”

Three laughed, a deep belly one, head tipped back. He threw an arm around One, and he found himself leaning into it, into the warmth of someone he wanted to be his friend, and chuckling.


End file.
